Israel Eliraz

Israel Eliraz (1936-2016) was born in Jerusalem. He received a BA in Hebrew literature and philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a degree in theater from the Sorbonne. Later, he co-founded the Kedem Teachers' College and was its director for many years. From 1963 to 1980, he published three novels, a book of short stories and a number of plays and opera librettos, which were staged both in Israel and abroad. Eliraz published his first book of poetry in 1980 under the pseudonym George Mathias Ibrahim. Since then, he published many poetry books in his own name, in French as well as Hebrew. Eliraz was awarded the ACUM Prize three times, the Ministry of Culture Award twice (1963; 1965), the Prime Minister's Prize twice (1994; 2009), the Natan Alterman Prize for Hölderlin (2002), the Bialik Prize (2008) and the Brenner Prize for In Praise of the Transitory Things (2013). He was also awarded an Honorary Citation by the French government. His poetry has been published abroad in 11 languages.